Carnival of Rust
by thedarkhasfallen
Summary: One-shot. Songfic. What if the ending was the opposite of what actually occurs? "See what happens when I'm without you. I become the rust-caked and mangled machinery..." Rated for violence. SonicOC pairing.


**A/N: Hello, everyone. I'm rather tired. Can you tell by my short sentences? -yawns- Anyway, Sonic the Hedgehog isn't mine; he's Sega's, no matter how many times I kidnap him and put him in strange situations. XD lawl.  
****I wish though... However, Swift the Hedgehog _is_ mine, along with the attacker, even though neither of their names are uttered in this fic. Just an FYI, the story is told from Swift's perspective. The attacker's name is Azrael and he's a half-porcupine-half-demon. Kinda scary thought... So yeah. Oh yes, it's also a song fic; expect lyrics. I have another note once you're done, so just stay tuned for that.  
Oh, btw, the song's _Carnival of Rust _by Poets of the Fall. Just so you know. Also, it's better to listen to the song while you read.**

**Without any further adue, I present you **_Carnival of Rust_. **Please do enjoy reading and remember to drop me a review once you're done. I'd really appreciate it. (It'd also be a pretty amazing Christmas present -grins deviously-) **

Carnival of Rust

The world was on fire.

To me, this was a literal statement that described my predicament all too well.

Every sense was flooded with pain, though I struggled valiantly to regain control. I was slammed to the ground once more, feeling bones plainly break as my body bounced off of the dirt and dug in two hops later. Someone screamed at me to pick myself up, but I wasn't sure if it was in my head or beyond. Grasping a fist-full of soil, I obeyed the unknown and pulled myself onto my knees, only to be tossed from the cliff's side and driven back to the edge by a fist inches before my life was splattered on the bottom. A sideways smack set me rolling into a rock, my body unwillingly contorting around it, stretching my back to the breaking point. My attacker merely continued to advance, his steps thundering like my dying heart in my ears. I peeled myself off of the rock, collapsing in a heap on the ground to watch the crimson sky bleed unto the earth.

If only I hadn't wanted your love. If only I hadn't longed for you with such passionate need. Then, maybe the curtain call wouldn't have come so soon.

And I still pushed myself up, almost eager for the punishment I was taking for you. I smirked at my foe, closing my eyes as he drew within striking range. He didn't stop to ask me any questions; he just sent his fist into my head and allowed gravity to whip me into a spiral until I landed painfully on the ground again.

Finally, he drew a yelp from me with a kick to the face just as consciousness was fading. Just as I was to succumb to the darkness. And I finally realized that I needed you now more than ever before. If any hour was mine of need, it was now. My head cracked against the ground just as a white light flashed before my eyes, awakening me in a way. I snapped to my feet for the first time in at least ten minutes, only to receive a mind-numbing roundhouse kick to the head. My knees buckled and I fell flat on my stomach. Rubbing my face in the dirt, my assailant grabbed a fistful of navy quills and knocked my head into the ground.

_See what happens when I'm without you. I become the rust-caked and mangled machinery…_

Barely coherent as he backed away to see what I would do, I slowly propped myself up on my elbows and gazed into the rust-colored streak that stained the normally pure white burst of fur on my chest. It almost certainly indicated that either you or my brother had been severed from the world, though his body still gave heaving breaths. So in spite of my incomplete knowledge of recognizing symbols, I finally allowed the tears to come. The ones I had kept back through the agonizing hours of paroxysm, altering days of pain, and an entire life of plagued passion. Through everything, I'd only allowed a few small outbursts, just so I wouldn't bring about the end of it all.

_**Yet, look at the world now, burning like the fire in my foe's eyes.**_

Unable to support myself any longer, my arms buckled and I lay still, gazing out at my attacker as he strode forward. Feeling fear like no other constricting my desperate heartbeat, fear to leave all those I had befriended and allied with, I let a single word escape my mouth.

"Sonic." I breathed almost inaudibly, eyes frantically peering through the screen of tears.

I knew I was the lone scapegoat for this. I knew that was practically what I was 'born' for. I was to save her world by drenching it in my blood, by taking wounds meant for you and her. I was to lay myself down for the slaughter because of _her _greed, her hunger for everything. I was disgusted by this, yet I knew I was guilty of the same treachery, since I wanted you with every essence of my being. You were my everything.

Suddenly, I could see a phantom of you, whispering that I had to move, to run… to fight. And as you spoke to me, pulling from the chaos this ending had become, my attacker with the scarlet cloak and armor as faceted as crumpled foil began to circle for the kill.

_"D' you breathe the name of your savior  
In your hour of need,  
And taste the blame if the flavor  
Should remind you of greed?  
Of implication, insinuation and ill will, 'til you cannot lie still,  
In all this turmoil, before red cape and foil come closing in for a kill."_

A gust of wind abruptly stopped my would-be killer in his tracks, and he nervously glanced around like a cornered wildebeest. Tense as possible, I watched for an opening, though I felt too weak to even rise again. However, I knew he'd just revert his attention to me again once he realized that you're not coming. Only your love could give me the strength I needed to stand again. Only engaging you in a martyristic ballad upon this seared and marked piece of land. Only you can…

_"Come feed the rain  
'cause I'm thirsty for your love  
__Dancing underneath the skies of lust  
Yeah, feed the rain  
'cause without your love my life  
__Ain't nothing but this carnival of rust."_

With a maniacal laugh, he strode forward arrogantly, gazing condescendingly at me through bright ruby irises. I lay before him, crying, dying.

_Wait, I'm dying?_

I wasn't supposed to die, was I? Ah yes, I _was_ supposed to die for you.

Having a plan made me considerably more comfortable. I knew, now that I had a game to play along by, I could recognize failure distinctly and wretch myself from it, if you were refusing now. The color was leaking out of the world, leaving me in a dark plane of black and white, just to prevent me from finding my way to the golden stairway that would lead me to you.

Aside from you, I wanted what came after things such as this: the moments of silence and bliss with each other. Selfishness and greed poured out of me with the river of blood that cascaded down my side.

I had fallen to the place where enough was just having you alive again.

_"It's all a game, avoiding failure,  
__When true colors will bleed  
All in the name of misbehavior  
__And the things we don't need  
I lust for after no disaster can touch,  
__Touch us anymore  
And more than ever, I hope to never fall,  
__Where enough is not the same it was before."_

He got down on his knees in front of me, watching my eyes drift to his face. He smiled rather evilly, and drove his hand down, thinking I would feel just another punch; I tensed my muscles in my stomach. However, I instantly found myself gasping for air as a silvery blade stabbed my already bleeding side. All breath caught in my throat as he ripped the knife from me. I stared in shock and helplessness as he brought the knife down again, this time into my leg, following by working the blade down my leg and then removing it, me screaming the entire time. As he lowered the blade for the final blow however, a cobalt blur, the only color left, dashed in front of the knife and took hold of it, forcing my attacker back while I gurgled as blood began to leak from my mouth.

_"Come feed the rain...  
'cause I'm thirsty for your love  
__Dancing underneath the skies of lust  
Yeah, feed the rain  
'cause without your love my life  
__Ain't nothing but this carnival of rust." _

The fight was led away from me as crystalline raindrops began to fall for the first time in God only knows how long, forcing me to recall a statement I had made long ago.

"_When I die, I wish it would suddenly start raining…"_

Everything was starting to desert me. I couldn't remember what day it was anymore. I couldn't recall whom exactly I was fighting. All I knew was that I was losing.

However, you were here. You were the one bringing the rain to this extinct plain, the one to join me in a promenade for the two of us as the world became a shattered mass of agony.

_"Yeah, feed the rain  
'cause I'm thirsty for your love  
__Dancing underneath the skies of lust  
Yeah, feed the rain  
'cause without your love my life  
__Ain't nothing but this carnival of rust."_

A broken and bloodied heap soon accompanied my own nearby, though I was too disoriented to figure out where exactly it came from. All I knew was that it wasn't you, though a much more shade-like version of you danced up to me with grace that I didn't recognize in you.

"For you." I heaved, fighting for every breath now, surprisingly. "Stay." I pleaded, needing you to quench my thirst. I needed you here. "Don't let me… rust away."

"I won't. I promise." You grasped my hands tightly as you allowed yourself to fall to the ground beside me, jade eyes reflecting the pain that I experienced. The pain of need. Epiphany overcame me a second before the dark, letting me know that it wasn't lust that had besieged my spirit as your own was swallowed in the darkness that I was approaching. No, this was something so much more.

_"Don't walk away, don't walk away, oh, when the world is burning  
Don't walk away, don't walk away, oh, when the heart is yearning  
Don't walk away, don't walk away, oh, when the world is burning  
Don't walk away, don't walk away, oh, when the heart is yearning"_

_I love you._

**A/N: Pathetic and sad, huh? I know. Okay, then. Deal with it.**

**The funny thing is, this is the almost exact opposite of the end of the RAT (Rise Above This) series. I figured I wanted to freak everyone out with an opposite so you have no actual idea of what the end is. 'Cause, what is the actual opposite of _this_? Heh, you'll have to wait a while for the answer to that, my friends. I promise, you'll know eventually. -evil laugh-**

**This story is a present for five incredible people: Hero (Hero Memory), Shelby (DarkShelby101), and three people on YouTube: Starz (ShootingStarz4Ever), Graham (fi1fi2) (yes Graham, this is the song I was trying to shove down your throat XD), and Mary (athenadairy). Yesh ya'll, this is your Christmas present. I apologize for not being able to write a story for each and every one of you, or even all of my readers, but 1) they'd all suck and 2) I don't have any time as it is. However, I still freakin' love you all like a part of my family. So, thanks for being there everyone, even those that I didn't mention. Merry Christmas!! Oh, please drop me a review! **

**-When darkness falls, heroes will rise-  
-Swift-**


End file.
